Bruins hold off Huskies for first 5-0 start in 13 years

RALPH COX

Sports correspondent

WELLSBURG — Up by 15 points at halftime, the Brooke Lady Bruins allowed Harrison Central to get within four in the third quarter before putting on a fourth quarter rally that gave them a 52-36 victory Saturday afternoon inside the Brooke Wellness Center.

The win is Brooke’s fifth straight to open the season marking the first time since the 2004 the Lady Bruins accomplished that, according to head coach Ryan Scherich.

“Harrison got it down to four points there after we were ahead by 17 early in the third quarter,” Scherich said after the game. “We just couldn’t put them away. They just kept battling and that is a credit to them.”

Brooke senior point guard Chole Fox made a layup off of a nifty feed from Hope Bowman to open the third period scoring, but the Lady Huskies outscored Brooke 15-5 through the remainder of the period. Harrison junior Sydney Starr sank the back end of a two shot foul to narrow Brooke’s lead to 35-31 with 44 seconds left in the third stanza.

That would be as close as they would get as Bowman made three-of-four from the charity stripe to end the third period. Then senior Ashley Arca got a rebound and put-back and Bowman made a short jumper in the lane off an inbound pass to increase the Bruin lead to 42-31 with 5:04 left in the game. The Bruins outscored Harrison 10-5 the rest of the way.

“We increased the speed of the play there after they closed to four,” Scherich said. “That’s the way we like to play. The girls like to get out and run.”

Veteran Harrison coach Nick Yourkovich, who was playing without standout senior point guard Alex Wiley who sustained a concussion earlier in the week, said he didn’t make any adjustments at halftime, but he urged his girls to play harder and they did.

“For whatever reason, at times this year we have had trouble keeping our intensity up for an entire game,” said Yourkovich, whose club now is 1-4. “We really lost that in the second quarter both offensively and defensively. Credit the girls, though, because they came out in the second half and got after it.

“We had that happen to us the other night. We got back within striking distance after fighting our way back then we look up at the scoreboard and relax. That’s what happened today. We had about a two-minute stretch there in the fourth quarter where we turned the ball over and let them put it away.

“We had some turnovers (17 in the game) and I told the girls after the game that until we have more consistency on offense we’re going to continue to struggle.”

Brooke started the game with a 15-12 first quarter advantage and went on a 9-0 run to end the first half as they outscored the Huskies 16-4 in the second period. Harrison had a brief early lead at 3-2 and trailed the remainder of the game.

Bowman, a 6-foot-3 junior, had a double-double to lead the way for the Lady Bruins. She scored 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. She also had four blocked shots, three steals and two assists.

“We put a lot of effort into our games,” Bowman said. “We work well together as a team. That’s how we’re getting these wins so it’s not me it is everybody. Putting up those statistics is how I want to play. That’s what helps us to win. We want to win them all.”

Bowman went head-to-head with Harrison junior Sydney Starr in the post. Starr also finished with a double-double scoring 10 points and hauling down 11 rebounds. Another Lady Huskie junior Asia Muckle led the Harrison third quarter rally scoring half of her 12 points.

Senior Ashley Arca repeatedly drove the lane and finished with 15 points including 7-of-9 from the foul line. Junior point guard Chloe Fox was a thorn in the side of the Lady Huskies picking their pockets with eight steals. She scored six points and had seven rebounds.

“Chloe probably is our best all around player,” Scherich said. “She scored six tonight, but she has been averaging around 11 points and she’s puts up the stats. She gets the steals and usually is up there in rebounds. She’s just a good all around player and does a little bit of everything.

“We had a couple of different starters today, girls that haven’t started this season, (Grace Dodson and Marissa Elliott). I think that is what has made a difference with our work ethic in practice. The kids know if they work hard in practice it could pay off with starts. It’s a team game and we go 9-10 deep.

“I thought we played a little sloppy today. My assistant coach (Amy Serevicz) said she hates playing day games on Saturdays. It’s a total different atmosphere. We played well, but got sloppy a little bit and let them get back into the game.”

The Lady Bruins continue on the home boards hosting Steubenville Big Red next Wednesday while the Huskies continue on the road with a visit to Martins Ferry next Thursday.

Game Notes:

Harrison Central got the best of the Bruins in the jayvee game by a score of 40-37. Audrey Corder led the Lady Huskies with 12 points and Brooke’s Natalie Ryan also scored 12.

The game was the first of three straight on the road for the Lady Huskies. They don’t play at home again till Dec. 21 hosting St. Clairsville.